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MOTD- Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 West Ham United

By on December 18, 2013

20131218-220113.jpgIf it was even possible for Tottenham Hotspur’s dismal week to get worse, it did. A 5-0 loss at home to Liverpool sufficiently ended Andre Villas-Boas’ reign at White Hart Lane as the manager was sacked less than a day later, and although when one failing manager gets the boot it is common for squad morale to rise, for Tottenham it was exactly the opposite as a 2-1 home loss to West Ham United knocked them out of the Capital One Cup in the quarterfinals.

The only bright point of what was otherwise a dreadful night for caretaker Tim Sherwood’s men was that it wasn’t actually a horrible performance. In fact, everything seemed to be going right when Emmanuel Adebayor put Spurs in front in the sixty-eighth minute after a sound opening hour from Tottenham. After only two minutes Jermain Defoe lashed a shot just wide from the edge of the box, before the forward blasted Gylfi Sigurdsson’s long ball just over the bar from an almost impossible angle.

West Ham began to find their way back into the match yet Tottenham remained in control and nearly took the lead when Defoe turned with the ball before slamming a shot into the arms of West Ham goalkeeper Adrian on the edge of the box. Carlton Cole was the first to create a meaningful chance for the visitors when he latched onto a long-ball on the edge of the penalty area and smacked an effort on goal which Hugo Lloris somewhat comfortably saved.

Allardyce’s side’s first goal nearly came in controversial style as James Collins lobbed ball back towards Lloris to return the ball to Tottenham following an injury, only to force the Frenchman into an unbelievable acrobatic save to keep the ball from ending up chipping him. Yet Tottenham found an opener through Adebayor just after the hour mark when Defoe whizzed down the left before curling a cross to the completely unmarked forward at the far post. With miles of space the Togo international sliced a screaming side volley in off the crossbar in mid-leap from six yards.

However, things began to go horribly wrong for Tottenham just moments later. Mohamed Diame’s volley was brilliantly parried by Lloris moments before the French goalkeeper somehow managed to tip Matthew Taylor’s low effort from twenty-five yards wide. Adebayor was then substituted, and as if right on cue West Ham found an equalizer in the eightieth minute. Modibo Maïga flicked Adrian’s long-ball down to Taylor, who slipped a neat pass into the run of Matt Jarvis down the left side of the box for the winger to slice a shot past Lloris into the top corner of the net from six yards.

The winner predictably came just five minutes later as Ravel Morrison found Diame on the right, who curled a cross into the mixer where Maïga rose up and flicked a header into the bottom corner of the the far post to complete the comeback. Sigurdsson attempted to find a late equalizer to force the match into extra-time, but Adrian blocked the Icelandic midfielder’s low drive from the edge of the box, and as Sherwood looked on in despair the full time whistle blew after five minutes of added time the boos began to ring around White Hart Lane.
Man of the Match: Modibo Maïga

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.